When I went behind the mansion, a scene like hell spread out before me.

Zuzuzuun……Bashaaaaan!

Lead-colored waves crashed violently against the rocks.

This was the sea that rejects all living things, the “Sea of Extinction.”

What stabbed at my nose was a strong ocean smell, mixed with a sharp chemical stench that made the inside of my nose sting.

The spray rising from the surface contained a small amount of cursed poison. A normal person would feel sick just from breathing it in.

“Ugh, it stinks…… But it’s for treasure, so I can handle it.”

Holding my nose, I stepped down onto the beach the map was pointing to.

There, near the shoreline, something like an “old rag” lay washed up on the sand.

“Uwah……”

When I got closer, it was a human.

A young girl with long hair, wearing a fancy dress.

But her condition could only be described as horrible.

The dress had soaked up seawater and clung heavy to her body, and her exposed skin was red and raw, burned by the acidic sea.

More than anything, her face was terrifying.

The right half was covered in something like a dark bruise, and it was melting, gooey, like rotten fruit.

Even in the horror movies of my past life, I had never seen something this bad.

“Hih……! I, is she……dead……?”

Without thinking, I took half a step back from the gruesome sight.

I came because there was an SSR reaction, but this looked like nothing more than industrial waste (a corpse) that was already too late.

But if, by some tiny chance, she was still breathing…

Carefully, I reached out and touched her wet shoulder with my fingertips.

“H-Hey. Are you alive?”

Piron♪

At that moment, a cheerful electronic sound rang out.

It was the sign that the target capture from the earlier 【Market Research】 had completed.

Then the red marker floating above her expanded, and a window opened on its own, turning into a detailed product information tag.

“Huh? Wah, that surprised me…… It just pops up by itself.”

My eyes widened at the text that shoved itself into my view, and when I read what was written there, I was even more shocked.

～～～～～～～

【Item Name: Former Duke’s Daughter Anastasia】
【Rarity: SSR】
【Condition: Near death, corrosion, curse (loss of beauty)】
【Background: Engagement broken due to false charges, fell into despair and attempted suicide → washed ashore】
【Buy Price: 0 RP (Cannot be bought due to being junk)】

～～～～～～～

“……Huh?”

A duke’s daughter?

This battered person?

Inside my head, I could almost hear an abacus clicking.

A duke’s daughter… meaning a noble who received top-level education.

To manage a territory, you absolutely need a “clerk” who can calculate and handle paperwork.

But no civil official would ever come to a remote place like this.

And yet, here she was, lying right here. If I picked her up, it was free.

“The problem is the repair cost, but……”

I carefully pulled up the estimate to fix her.

【Item Repair Cost: 5000 RP】

“F-Five thousand!?”

In shock, I leaned back right there on the sand.

My entire fortune was 5800 RP, earned by desperately picking up trash earlier.

Most of it would vanish in an instant.

Normally, you would give up and return her to the sea.

But I lifted the corner of my mouth into a grin.

“Expensive. It’s expensive, but…… if I think of it as the signing bonus to hire a brand-new ‘duke’s daughter,’ it’s ridiculously cheap!”

Money is meant to be used.

If I get stingy here, I’ll never build the strongest territory.

“Alright, deal accepted (purchase confirmed)!”

I squeezed the girl’s cold hand tight.

Then, pouring in all the magic power and points I had, I shouted.

“――【Item Repair】!!”

Ka!!

In the next instant, a dazzling light overflowed from my hands.

It was not a holy, gentle light filled with mercy.

It was more mechanical, more cold, made of geometric effects.

Viiiiin……!

The light ran across the girl’s body like a scan.

And as if following its path, a miracle happened.

The seawater trapped in her lungs was forced out.

The skin burned raw by acid instantly returned to a smoothness like white porcelain.

And the “cursed bruise” on her face, the mark that had ruined her life, peeled away crack by crack, like dried mud being cleaned off, and vanished into particles of light.

A few seconds later.

On the beach where the light faded, a girl so beautiful she hardly seemed real lay there.

Silver hair shining like moonlight. Features perfectly shaped like jewels.

Even her torn, ruined dress regained its frills like it was brand-new, fluttering softly in the wind.

“Mm……ah……?”

Her long eyelashes trembled, and her eyes slowly opened.

Amethyst-purple eyes, still hazy, captured me.

“I……should be dead……”
“Morning, big sis. You’re alive.”

With an innocent smile, I leaned in and looked into her face.

The girl jolted upright and touched her hands and body, checking herself.

No pain. No cold. If anything, her body felt light like a feather.

Then, trembling, she touched her cheek.

And she gasped.

“Ah……no way…… It’s gone……?”

There was no rough, raised feeling of the cursed mark.

All her fingertips felt was smooth skin, like polished pottery.

With shaking eyes, she stared at me, the small boy standing in front of her.

“Was it you……who healed me? Even someone filthy like me, who had nowhere left to go?”
“Yeah. I fixed you.”

I puffed out my chest and declared proudly, as the manager of the Recycle Shop.

“It’s the rule of the Recycle Shop. Anything thrown away belongs to the one who picked it up. So…”

Right in front of her, I sharply pointed my index finger at her.

“From today on, big sis is mine (my subordinate), okay?”

The moment she heard that, large tears spilled from her eyes.

A life that had chosen death at the edge of despair, a life that nobody needed.

To have someone pick her up and say clearly, “You’re mine,” must have been what made her happiest.

She dropped to her knees and bowed her head deeply.

“……Yes, my master.”

Her voice trembled, but inside it was a firm, unshakable will.

“I offer this saved life and body, all of it, to you. ……From this moment, I, Anastasia, will become your sword and your shield.”

“Ah, I don’t need a sword or shield, so for now, please handle ‘calculations’ and ‘paper sorting,’ okay?”

“……Huh?”

Taking her confused hand, I started walking.

Good. Now I had an excellent secretary (clerk).

My territory reform had only just begun.

________________________________________

T/n: This is the last chapter for this trial series. If you ever want more please let us know if you enjoyed it or not! If yes, then I’d be willing to continue it!